Apology Issued From "Dance" Judge Nigel Lythgoe

Hundreds of Gay.com readers weighed in yesterday after we wrote about the controversy regarding the homophobic remarks made by Nigel Lythgoe on "So You Think You Can Dance" this week.  GLAAD made a public plea for an apology -- and they just got one.  Below is the full press release from GLAAD.

On May 22, GLAAD released a Call to Action in response to remarks made the night before by judge Nigel Lythgoe on the popular reality competition show So You Think You Can Dance. Today, GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano and Senior Director of Media Programs Rashad Robinson spoke with Mr. Lythgoe.   He expressed his apology over his misuse of words and released this official statement:

“I sincerely regret the fact that I have upset people with the poor word choices and comments I made both during the taping of the ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ audition and on my personal status update. I am not homophobic and it was extremely upsetting for me to be classed as such.

I have been forthright and consistent with my opinion, as a judge, that professional male dancers should move with strength and agility -- like Gene Kelly and Rudolph Nureyev.  I now realize how this could be misconstrued.

I have been a dancer, and involved in the dance world, for nearly 50 years. Professionally and personally, I believe the sexual orientation of an auditioner or contestant is irrelevant.  All that said, the fact that I have unintentionally upset people is distressing to me and it is obvious I have made mistakes that I must learn from. I trust that my humor will be more sensitive and mindful moving forward.”

Nigel Lythgoe, judge and executive producer, SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE

“We certainly appreciate the dialogue, and the opportunity for Nigel to help further educate people about how words and images matter,” said Giuliano. “His sincere words are appreciated, and we look forward to words, images and representations of the LGBT community on So You Think You Can Dance that will be fair, accurate and inclusive in the future.”

The May 22 Call to Action can be viewed at www.glaad.org.

 

Comments

[Dragonfly]

It's nice that he at least acknowledge this.

But why no word from the two homophobic women on there? To me, they were just as bad.

And the shaved-head one even worse. With her, it was homophobic and sexist.

All three judges should be removed from this show.

[David]

LOL - this is so stupid... the critiques he made weren't even homophobic... and if you actually look AT the comments rather that at the NUMBER OF comments you will see that most GLBT folks weren't offended by what he said... the general response to the fact that this is getting any attentional at all is "WTF".

It seems like some people just WANT to be offended and look for reasons to sound the alarms and start controversy.

[SJCguy28]

Hmmm..."extremely distressing"...I can hear him now, talking with his gay pals: "I've been gay all my life! How could anyone think I'm homophobic!"

Thanks for the apology, Nigel, but the biggest insult was from the editors/producers who turned an honest audition (admittedly by two dancers who needed a lot more training and practice) into a "wink wink, nudge nudge, watch these two fags dancing together" segment.

[Rod]

judge didn't need to apologize. one thing is respect, but politically correct bullshit sucks.

[D.J.]

More and more I feel like GLAAD does a disservice to the community by getting offended and making a big deal out of nothing. Sure Nigel is old fashioned sometimes, but far from being homophobic. GLAAD has done a lot of good for our community and I'm not trying to demean that but they have also sometimes made us look like whinny little drama queens (no pun intended).

In life you have to learn to pick and chose your battles or you'll end up fighting all the time until you're bitter and jaded. The comments made on SYTYCD? weren't worth getting upset over. Kudos to Nigel for pampering.

[Gay Guide Blog]

Finally!

[A.J.]

I just have to wonder if it was a man and a woman if they would have made it through...